“You know how many handicapped girls want to wear high heels? Well I’m going to do it for them,” said Curran, 26, while picking her way across the uneven ground surrounding her family’s rural Kewanee farmhouse Wednesday evening.

Curran began the pageant when she was 16 because her indignation was so great it compelled her to take on the challenges of others.

“I’ve always been for the underdog,” she said.

Curran got the idea when she was preparing for her first pageant, the Miss Henry County Fair Queen. A high school friend who suffers from a more severe form of CP expressed sadness that she couldn’t be in the pageant, too.

“She always wanted to do the pageant, but her parents wouldn’t let her because they thought people would make fun of her,” said Curran. “It just made me really mad, and even madder that her parents would say that. I think it’s their job to push you.”

Curran was pushed. After she signed up to compete in the Henry County Fair Queen pageant, she had second thoughts.

“My parents said, ‘You signed up to do it so you can’t quit,’” said Curran. She ended up placing in the top 10.

“I wore my 10th runner up ribbon all week at the fair,” she said. “I told my family we had to go to Walmart so I could wear it there.”

Page 2 of 4 - The national attention caught the eye of a documentary filmmaker who asked Curran if he could tell the story of the Miss You Can Do It pageant. The film became an HBO documentary that included footage from two different pageants.

Pampered and pushed

“Her first pageant was the first one they filmed for HBO,” said Morton resident Becky McDaniels about her daughter, Jocelynn, who was only 5 years old at the time. “She wasn’t one of the featured contestants, but they showed her (in the movie). It was really neat.”

The McDaniels attended the premiere event of the film in Chicago last year.

“Abbey did a red carpet event for all the girls,” said McDaniels. “They had plush pillows to sit on during the movie.”

The princess treatment is always part of anything Curran plans for the girls. For Jocelynn, who has Down syndrome and is now 8, that’s awesome.

“She’s a very girly girl,” said her mother. “She loves dresses, she loves hair and makeup, so this is all right up her alley. We knew that she would love it.” Jocelynn’s therapist at Easter Seals told the family about the pageant.

While the two-day event is filled with lots of girly stuff — visits with Disney princesses, spa treatments, pizza and, of course, pretty dresses — some events are designed to foster personal growth and independence. Each contestant is interviewed, without assistance from their parents, by the judges the day before the pageant.

“Most of the kids I talk to like that,” said McDaniels. “It gives them a chance to be independent, away from mom and dad.” Time away from parents, most of whom are very protective, is important, said Curran.

“I think that some time with just your girlfriends is important,” she said. “Your parents raise you, but your friends shape who you are. These girls don’t get much opportunity to be alone with their friends because their parents are so good and want to protect them all the time.”

A little time on their own helps develop a stronger sense of self, she said.

“I just want them to realize that they can do anything and they don’t need help doing it,” she said.

This year Mariah Senn, 14, of Bloomington, is picking out her dress by herself. She won’t divulge what it looks like or even what color it is — it’s a surprise.

“Before her first pageant she would hide her leg braces by wearing long pants, really tall socks and sweat pants,” said Mariah’s mother, Sophia Senn. “After that first pageant she started wearing her braces openly when she went back to school.”

Page 3 of 4 - This will be Mariah’s third pageant. Just like Curran, Mariah suffers from cerebral palsy. Preparing for her third pageant has been pure fun, but three years ago the idea of standing on stage in front of a big crowd was hard.

“I was nervous about what everybody would think about me,” she said. “At school I would try to hide the fact that I had a disability, and I’m very open about it now. Seeing all the other girls who have more challenges than I do, it shows me that what I have is not hard to overcome, and I shouldn’t be afraid of it.”

Continuing advocacy

All the attention Curran received after the Miss USA pageant helped The Miss You Can Do It pageant grow. This year more than 70 contestants, some traveling from Canada, will be participating.

In addition to planning the pageant, Curran is enrolled in the accelerated nursing program at Trinity College of Nursing & Health Sciences in Rock Island. She has a grueling schedule, rising before dawn to get ready before the hour-long commute, clinicals in the morning, classes in the afternoon, then home again where she studies and works on the pageant into the night.

Though the crazy schedule has left her frazzled, she won’t give up — both endeavors are important. Through the pageant she’s able to improve lives, the same purpose she hopes to achieve with a nursing degree. Curran, whose first degree is in communication, is occasionally asked to do keynote speaking about her experiences. She hopes a nursing degree will lead to more expert speaking engagements, a chance to advocate on a higher platform.

“The things I can do for the girls, I want to do for the rest of the world,” she said.

The HBO documentary helped Curran deliver her message on an international stage. The film gave a glimpse into the challenges faced by handicapped children and their families, and showed the simple joy the experience could bring to them all. At the end of the movie Curran spoke to the audience:

“This pageant is based on my life. My hope is to give these beautiful ladies fire and determination. If they run towards their dreams they will get there — all they need is someone to push them, someone who believes in them, and someone to say ‘you can do it.’”